Favor and Protection

Joshua 7:12-13 I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction……That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.

These are weighty verses. As I read through the chapter…. I saw the severity of consequences facing the Israelites…when God removed his hand of protection and favor, I was struck with how seriously we need to consider sin.
Toward the end of the chapter, when Achan came forward…confessed his sin, and repented by telling about the plunder and where it could be found, I found myself hurting for him, wanting him to be forgiven, and everyone just go back to normal. But in God’s economy…The wages of sin is death…always has been…always will be..and on this side of the cross, we have mercy and compassion. But God still, to this day, deals with sin in the same manner…..it just is heaped on Jesus at the Cross of Calvary.
The God who spoke and it was…..who isn’t limited by time or space….takes every sin we commit, that we are forgiven for…and puts them all on Jesus.
It is one thing to be forgiven….it is still another to be under the ‘favor of God’. God promises us, never to leave us or forsake us (forgiveness)…but he does say if we go on sinning….he will remove our lampstand from its place (favor and protection).